At the opening ceremony of the second China-Russia SME Business Forum held on 30 May 2016, China’s Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli put forward three proposals on deepening China-Russia cooperation in SMEs. First, jointly promoting the steady growth of bilateral trade and optimizing industrial structures by prioritizing SMEs’ pragmatic cooperation; second, focusing on SME cooperation to create new economic innovations and developments; third, deepening cooperation between SMEs from both countries and exploring new areas for development.

In addition, he also pointed out that China is currently entering a period of new normal and at the final stages of building its moderately prosperous society. Although the economy is under pressure, he sees a positive trend in China’s long-term economic development and Russian SMEs are welcomed to invest in China.